A TARDIS Brewery in Menomonie Wisconsin?

In my study of brewery caves in Western Wisconsin there are several where I have solid evidence for their existence but for various reasons can't locate them.  Usually this is because they are underneath newer development as communities grow beyond their 19th century boundaries.  But one has bothered me to no end, causing me to make numerous visits.  And each time I come away frustrated and/or puzzled.

Menomonie.

It should be easy.  Here is the 1885 plat map that gives exact details.

Note that it says:  STEAM PUMP IN BEER CELLAR 50' BELOW BREWERY IN BED OF ROCK.

And if that is not enough for you, There's are descriptions in the Dunn County News. After a fire in 1877 - probably arson - destroyed the original brewery it was rebuilt "..on the brow of the hill just above where the old brewery stood, and directly over the vaults in the solid rock below, and communicating therewith, so that the beer may be carried through pipes from the vats to the cellar"  Further mention is made that the "spacious beer vault" was cut in the rock, was 40 feet below the floor of the brewery's basement, and that the "..main entrance to the vault is at the foot of the bluff near the site of the old brewery."  

A very blurry map from 1877 shows the brewery in its original form.   It would be somewhere near where the yellow "shed" appears in 1885.  Indeed, the shed is probably the entrance/antechamber for the beer vault.  The creek shown on the older map is a handy landmark and is just off the lower edge of the '85 map.

A slightly more detailed sketch is based on an 1874 source not available to me:

So, this should be easy.  There is still a road leading from the north down towards the original brewery site.  Doubtless this is the "wagon road" shown above.  You needed that road.  The beer was not going to go back up through those pipes after all.  With these coordinates in hand it is a simple matter to stand where the road must have taken a turn to go right into the brewery cave:

So that's it.  And the problem?  You can't tell from this perspective but from the road grade, which should be original, to the flat spot up above, is only about 30 feet.  And remember that the descriptions agree that the vault was 50 feet below the brewery. (For this discussion assume that 40 feet below a basement counts as about the same). It just does not work.  The title of my post suggests one possible answer...

But honestly a Dr. Who TARDIS brewery that could be much bigger on the inside than its external dimensions seems an implausible explanation for this dilemma.

Lets take a brief step back to review the history of the brewery.

Christian Fuss apparently started it in 1867.  He had a beer garden down near the river although sources disagree as to which side of the creek it was on.  Annual production of 300 to 400 barrels a year was about average for this time and place.  He appears to have struggled with debt so the allegation of arson associated with the fire in late 1877 could have various interpretations.   After the rebuild business seems to have been good, but Fuss went bankrupt anyway in 1884.  A series of complicated ownership changes, openings and closings followed with the final act being yet another fire that destroyed the brewery in 1891.  Christian Fuss went to work for the other brewery in town.  In 1894 he "..died destitute in a brewery where he had for several years past worked for his board."

So, be prepared to join me in confusion.  Maybe the descriptions of the beer vaults were inaccurate?  I'm not buying it.  Sanborn maps are painstakingly correct and we have essentially the same numbers from the 1878 newspaper articles and the map seven years later.

Maybe the top 20 feet of the hill were simply pushed over the side along with the ruins of the brewery?  I have seen something like this happen a time or two, but a local historian who grew up nearby remembers the ruins of the brewery still being there in the 1930s.  John Russell naturally went looking for the caves, as any lad of the era would have, but never found them.  He was a keen observer of local doings and I'm sure would have mentioned if 20 or 30 feet of the hill had been removed during his younger days.

I have seen one brewery cave that had a decided downward slope from its entrance.  It was in Prairie du Chien.  

But that one was pretty odd.  Also it was well away from any rivers and streams.  You can imagine the problems associated with having a lagering cellar that fills with water during spring floods.  Or even heavy rains.

So I end this trip to the site of the Christian Fuss Rock Brewery as I end all others.  Puzzled and frustrated.  It does not seem as if a TARDIS phenomenon should be up there among the more plausible explanations.